Korean Government Finds Nissan Guilty Of Using Emissions Device

Renault-sourced 1.6-litre diesel the culprit, but Nissan maintains its innocence.

A South Korean court has ruled in favour of the government on Thursday, after Japanese carmaker Nissan challenged a fine it was presented last year due to the alleged fitment of an emissions defeat device on the Qashqai SUV that it sells there.

Nissan filed a suit against the South Korean Ministry of Environment after it claimed that the carmaker had defrauded the government’s emissions testing schemes by utilising an “unjustified arbitrary setup,” or an illegal defeat device on the Euro 6-grade diesel Qashqai. In response to the courts’ ruling, Nissan issued a statement saying that they are “disappointed” with the ruling.

“Nissan Korea maintains that it has complied with all existing regulations and did not use an illegal defeat device in the Euro 6 Qashqai.” Contrarily, the South Korean government claimed that a system designed to regulate emissions on the Qashqai seemingly disengaged itself once the engine reached 35-degrees centigrade, when the ‘exhaust gas recirculation’ (EGR) system was supposed to only disengage once the engine reached 50-degrees centigrade to avoid overheating.

As a result of the emissions discrepancy, Nissan Korea was slapped with a $342,000 fine (300-million Korean Won), which it disputed by launching the lawsuit that was concluded today. The South Korean government took it upon themselves to test the real-world emissions of some 20 vehicles on sale as a result of the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal, and found that the Qashqai’s early disengaging of its EGR system brought emissions levels skyrocketing.